Can any of you use these weird things?

[mzrowan]

Two things maybe somebody can make use of in some kind of art project?

I have a flip clock which has sadly never worked, and it's not worth it to me to try and replace the cheap mechanism inside it. Anybody have any use for the flip numbers

Comments

[cos]

I also have a flip clock that doesn't work. It works for a while and then a day or two later I notice that its time is off by a lot, though it's still flipping once a minute.

[starphire]

The motor in flip clocks is a synchronous type, like the ones used in old electric analog clocks. That means its rate of rotation is fixed by the (fairly precise) 60 Hz AC line frequency.

Most likely, the gears and flip mechanism have gotten sufficiently gummed up over time that the motor has started to occasionally fail to advance on each and every AC pulse. At one portion of the hourly rotation, there's additional friction in the mechanism, so it may slow down only for certain periods.

[cos]

This one is battery powered, so no AC. Though it being gummed up is just as possible.

[starphire]

Wow, I don't think I ever noticed a battery-operated version before. That must have eaten up batteries compared to later digital clocks!